A Meeting under the sign of listening and sharing. The event organized by "Reporterre" and "Acting for the environment " showed that people facing the profusion of useless projects, citizens are increasingly mobilized.

Monday, December 1, they came in large numbers to listen to opponents of useless projects testify of their struggle. Audio and photographic report.

The guilty silence of the authorities, the violent repression or the inextricable complexity of legal terms ... but also the creativity and determination of the activists. The meeting Reporterre organized on December 1 with Acting for the Environment, was an exhilarating evening : she laid the foundations for victory of the ecology against private interests.

Six groups of opponents to unnecessary projects were present, and the public has largely filled the room" Jean Dame", made available by the City Council of the second district of Paris. Some struggle against shopping centers, others against a dam or airport. Sometimes they occupy the land, forming Zad (zone at defense) or multiply original events. Beyond their differences, the discusion, led by Antoine Lagneau showed that they initiate joint strategies to win their fight. From the Dam Sivens at Testet,

The dam project on wetland is seriously called into question, since the death of Rémi Fraisse. For more information see our Dossier : The battle to save the wetlands of Testet.

Ben Lefetey, spokesman for the collective safeguarding of wetland Testet, "we will never celebrate victory, because one of us is dead. "However, there is today an official recognition that this is a bad project .But "the resistance is too strong today for continuing the project." They can no longer impose a project we are refusing. What remains is to " win at national level ", on three points : demand more democracy, ban lethal weapons and reorient our agriculture to a more sustainable model.

Listen Ben Lefetey :
The airport of Notre-Dame-des-Landes

Notre Dame des Landes is the "mother of all battles," said Francoise Verchère, from the elected collective questioning the relevance of the airport of Notre-Dame-des-Landes (CEDPA).

Learn all : Folder Notre-Dame-des-Landes A project born in the 1970s, active Zad since 2008, yet "today we sink."

The reason is, "the silence of the authorities" and "the relative independence of the State Council," which complicates legal remedies. "Victory is possible, but it is not yet sure," says Françoise Verchère. So how to win ? "There needs to be a balance of power with the support of society. »

Listen Françoise Verchère :
The Europa City center Gonesse

What is it ? A shopping center promoted by Auchan with ski slope in an area already well provided with supermarkets. For more information. The Gonesse struggle is in its infancy. "We have organized demonstrations with Alternatiba Ile-de-France, explains Bernard Loup, from the collective for the Triangle Gonesse. We seek to offer alternatives, show that at the level of our territory, we can do something other than a mall. »

Listen Bernard Loup The Val Tolosa center in Toulouse

In the same vein as Gonesse, Val Tolosa center, near Toulouse, is the subject of a determined opposition for almost a decade.

"The promotors say they defend the public interest, denounces Jutta Dumas, the collective ’No to Val Tolosa’. But in fact, with a few new jobs, often precarious, they defend only their own private interests. "As to propose alternatives, she asks :" Is it our role ? We are not there to make up for the shortcomings of our representatives. »
Listen to Jutta Dumas : Oxylane village of Saint-Jean-de-Braye

A huge store Decathlon, and full of sports shops. And again, agricultural land and wetlands threatened.
Know everything.
"The goal is to win the battle of public opinion, said Fabrice Tassard,from the collective SPLF45. For this, "we must stay positive, be playful and creative in our events and our struggles. »
Listen Fabrice Tassard : The Center Parks Roybon

"he Farm with 1000 cottages" is how Stéphane Peron describes the village ’Pierre et Vacances’ wants to build in Roybon in the Isère. Read our record.

The fight began seven years ago, which now leads to "a legal carnage." For, despite a recent reversal of the authorities (2 December), including regional president Jean-Jacques Queyranne, "all safeguards, legal remedies have been for nothing," the Prefect is ignoring all. For Stéphane Peron, to win a "very difficult" victory, civil disobedience is necessary.

Through the testimonies of the activists of the field, a common thread emerges. Stephen Kerckhove of Action for the environment, the similarities abound : the shock of legitimacy, the worshipping for infrastructure projects born in the years 1960-70, the ecological denial or the ambivalence of the representatives.
Listen Stephen Kerckhove : Madness GPII (large unnecessary projects and taxed) is not a Franco-French disease. Across Europe and the world, mines, dams or rail infrastructure disfiguring nature. But "a converging movement is taking place," says Barnabas Binctin journalist Reporterre. A movement that is organized around three main axes : the rejection of neoliberalism, ideological matrix of these GPII, proposing alternatives, and the use of Community or European law, to go ahead with the fight.

Listen Barnabas Binctin : In the room, dozens of struggles

In the room, the public is abuzz with indignation. The testimony fuse. A quarry in Vexin, a high voltage line in Upper-Durance, a Farm factory with 1000 calves in the Limousin.A Nuclear project, a rail project or wastes pose very often social, environmental and democratic problems.

France seems riddled with unnecessary projects ... Each person lists his tips and tracks : write a song, create citizens workshops, sharing contacts and tools. One slogan : mutual support and coordination. In this regard, there is already an address : contact@gpii.fr to be linked with other struggles.

Self-help, yes, but this is not enough. "We all have a responsibility. Everyone must have the courage to do what he discreetly can do, "says a lady. "You have to get out there, do not wait to be told what to do, take the initiative," said another viewer.

Engaging, it is not always easy. Especially when one is constantly denigrated. "It makes us being called backward-looking, anti-everything, testifies Agnes Popelin, from Ile-de-France Environment. We are accused of defending our turf, inreality it is they, the companies, which defend their private interests. "Not to delegitimize the movement," we must reaffirm the power of non-violence, "says Pierre-Alain Prévost,from the Peasant Confederation. Yet, facing denial, silence, repression, now raises the question of the use of violence.

Listen Ben Lefetey : To try to appease the game, François
Hollande recently raised the idea of local referendums. But is this a trap ? For Françoise Verchère is a very dangerous device : Listen Françoise Verchère : To win victories, we must first "engage, take risks," says Ben Lefetey. Then "the struggle must be organized around three areas : legal, political and citizen," says Françoise Verchère. "Do not forget to broaden the base, winning new audiences," says Jutta Dumas. But it is no time for fatalism, "people are becoming more and more aware," says Stéphane Peron. Stephen Kerckhove, no doubt, "it is we who will win because we are the good guys ! »

Hervé Kempf concluded, placing the struggle within the general framework of neo-liberalism in a time of profound moral decay ... making them ready to punish more harshly blaming them only more :